


Touching

by angie_g



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AUTHOR IS NOT VILLIANIZING AUTISTIC TRAITS, Autism, Fluff, For the love of God, M/M, One Shot, Please Keep That In Mind, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Time Travel, tom has autistic traits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 07:21:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21442390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angie_g/pseuds/angie_g
Summary: Tom Riddle doesn't like being touched or touching others. However, there is one exception, Harry Potter.
Relationships: Harry Potter & Tom Riddle, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Comments: 4
Kudos: 497





	Touching

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short one shot, which is also posted on my tumblr, @angie-g. Check it out! I need more friends.

Tom doesn’t like touching. He doesn’t like touching anyone, nor anyone touching him. Touching filth disgusted him, and he barely contained his hatred for touch in his Hogwarts years, while using his “charming, intelligent school boy” persona.

But there was one exception.

When Tom first met Harry, the first thought that flew through his mind was, _“By Merlin, his hair is a mess.” _And acted as casually as he could about it.

Subtle tips here and there, spells, potions, but nothing worked. Then, one day, out of frustration, Tom reached out and ran his hand through Harry’s hair, successfully taming it. At first, it was surprise that it worked. Then, it was satisfaction. Finally, the horror set in. Immediately, Tom retracted his hand as if it was burnt, and quickly left with some half-hearted excuse. Harry, along with the rest of the students, were frozen in shock.

Far away, Tom stared at the hand that had unconsciously touched Harry’s hair. He didn’t feel disgusted, rather, he felt…Well, he didn’t know how to word what he was feeling.

Tom barked out a laugh. Incredible, Harry not only had managed to break Tom’s rule of no touching, but also caused him unable to form an explanation.

He gently used his other hand and picked out a strand of Harry’s hair that had fallen out onto his hand. He recalled, despite how infuriatingly messy the poor excuse of hair was, it was rather quite soft. It was smooth and silky, and he realized he _liked_ it when he touched Harry’s hair.

Unconsciously, he brought the hand up to his nose and sniffed. It smelled of the magical shampoo he had given to Harry, he realized. He had thought the proud Gryffindor had disregarded his advice. To his surprise, Harry had actually heeded his words. The scents of calming lavender and warming sandalwood washed over him.

As suddenly as he had started, Tom stopped, realizing how weird he must have looked. Hurriedly, he moved onto his classes.

During the day, no one had said anything, Harry especially. Tom didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, he relished in the loss of the snarky, heated comments Harry used to throw at him. And on one hand, he missed it greatly.

The staff had mixed reactions. Slughorn, like most of the teachers, seemed thrilled that Tom was becoming close to the new Gryffindor transfer, the DADA prodigy. Dumbledore seemed torn. On one hand, he agreed with Slughorn. If Tom could feel love, or even some connection to the Gryffindor then there was hope for redemption. On the other hand, he was also wary, because for all he knew this could be one of Tom’s many schemes to win the Gryffindor over.

Since the incident, more and more of the same varying incidents slowly started happening. Tom started straightening out Harry’s robes by hand instead of by spell, redoing his red-and-gold tie, cleaning his glasses, brushing dust off his robes, and patting down his hair all while huffing and sighing.

Harry also warmed up to Tom, no longer jerking away from Tom’s touch, but now just letting out a half-hearted grumble. Being touch-starved, they started becoming closer to each other. Harry throwing an arm around Tom’s shoulders, Tom placing a hand on Harry’s back when they walk together. Harry resting his chin on Tom’s head and warping his arms around Tom when Tom was sitting, Tom putting out an arm to hold Harry back when he became pissed at someone for a reason or another.

It became a common site to see the formerly touch-phobic Slytherin and Gryffindor prodigy holding hands or some other form of physical contact. It was a surprise to no one when they started dating.

Tom still keeps up his rule of no touching, but there is one exception, Harry Potter.

**Author's Note:**

> You know, after researching autistic traits, I realize I have a lot of them. Hm...


End file.
